Laura McLean — From the Ground Up: Good day to get your green on

St. Patrick's Day is a day to flaunt your greenness. On this day I'm 100 percent Irish and can practically trace my roots to some ancient Gaelic scribe or warrior queen. I'm certain of it especially when in the midst of holiday celebrating. Then again maybe I sprouted from some humble line of potato farmers. It seems apparent while out in my own patch of soil, planting the good earth.

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By LAURA McLEAN

southcoasttoday.com

By LAURA McLEAN

Posted Mar. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By LAURA McLEAN

Posted Mar. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

St. Patrick's Day is a day to flaunt your greenness. On this day I'm 100 percent Irish and can practically trace my roots to some ancient Gaelic scribe or warrior queen. I'm certain of it especially when in the midst of holiday celebrating. Then again maybe I sprouted from some humble line of potato farmers. It seems apparent while out in my own patch of soil, planting the good earth.

Fantasizing aside, St. Patrick's Day, landing where it does in mid-March with spring treading close on its heels, heralds the arrival of the growing season. Locally, the holiday coincides with the New England Flower Show which ends today at 6 p.m. (more to come on that in a future column). For those who want to start their peas, St. Paddy's day is a good marker. From this point on, many of us will be rolling out the green carpet — from windowsill to the gardens surrounding our homes.

As a kind of good luck charm to shake off Old Man Winter, I set a pot of shamrocks (oxalis) on my kitchen counter. They are cheerful and green with tiny white flowers and the distinctive triple leaf structure. St. Patrick, who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, was said to have once plucked a shamrock from the grass at his feet to illustrate the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to his congregation. Thus the shamrock was adopted as a symbol of both this patron saint and the season of rebirth.

There are numerous plants of Celtic tradition, many of which are associated with the spirits and deities that are a rich part of folklore. The great Roman general and stateman Julius Caesar was so impressed, he recorded how the Celtic beliefs embraced eternal life and an immortal soul. A combination of pagan and Christian traditions emanates from the rich tapestry of their given nature — where mists and stone and forests spell enchantment.

"The Celtic cathedral was the stand of trees, the hill, the river, or the lake; the woodland was home to a pantheon of male and female spirit deities whose roots reached deep into the earth and whose branches arched up into the sky," writes Peg Streep in her book "Spiritual Gardening." Among the trees were birch, rowan, ash,oak, hazel and apple. Birch featured large in Druid ceremonies to drive out the spirit of the old year, Streep relates. "The whiteness of the tree's bark symbolized its purity. ... The ash was associated with rebirth as well as with the power of the ocean's waters; its wood yielded the spears for the warrior and the oars of seafarers."

But of all the trees the oak "an emblem of endurance, strength and protection" was most holy, according to the author. "The druids ate acorns before prophesying; the acorn itself symbolizes the power of the spirit." Valuable forces were also assigned to the hazel, elder and willow as found in Irish legends. "What twentieth century science has confirmed — the centrality of trees to the oxygen-replenished ecosystem in which living beings thrive — the ancient lore of the Celts expressed in spiritual and symbolic terms," states Streep, quite eloquently, adding, "The Celtic vision of the tree, rooted in earth and reaching toward sky, remains the perfect metaphor for the awakened spirituality we can achieve in the garden."

Although trees are central, there are other physical components that make up the Celtic garden: a water feature, stonework in the form of statues, wells or crosses and the geometric patterns that mimic nature herself.

A friend who lived in Ireland for several years recalls the wonderful arrangement of stone walls through the village of Kinsale. In early spring, spritzed by the watery air, the walls sprouted their own kind of garden in the web of cracks and crevices. The constant wetness provided the necessary nurturing and by early March flowers would start appearing.

Even here, with the right conditions moisture can propagate moss and rockery plants, like foxglove, and its tiny cousin Fairy Foxglove, Erinus alpines, which hales from the mountains of Europe and is now naturalized in the United Kingdom. It prefers poor soil and comes in pink, white and crimson varieties which all love growing in walls. Another that I actually tried to propagate years back in our front wall is coryadalis, a delicate plant that also has naturalized on walls around villages in the U.K. It doesn't like getting too damp and comes in shades of blue and yellow.

Before we venture forth into the widening color palette that is to come our way, let's take today and just enjoy the magic of the green!